Army Commander Goes to Trial

BERLIN (AP) — The former commander of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade is going on trial on suspicion of fraud, bigamy, conduct unbefitting an officer and other charges related to an alleged long-term extra-marital affair he had with a woman he met in Iraq, while they both lived in Europe.

Col. James Johnson III will be court martialed beginning in Kaiserslautern on Sunday. He was relieved of his command of the Vicenza, Italy-based 173rd in March 2011, and could face decades in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted.

Johnson has not yet entered a plea and his attorney, Lt. Col. Charles Kuhfahl, would not comment on the case.
The court martial of Johnson, son of the former commander of the North Carolina-based 82nd Airborne Division, is scheduled through June 16.

He pleaded guilty this afternoon. I hope this miserable excuse for an officer rots in Leavenworth. He is everything that an officer is not supposed to be- an amoral liar and a thief. Guys like him think that they are above the code that the rest of us live and lead by. He is a slime ball.

He pleaded guilty this afternoon. I hope this miserable excuse for an officer rots in Leavenworth. He is everything that an officer is not supposed to be- an amoral liar and a thief. Guys like him think that they are above the code that the rest of us live and lead by. He is a slime ball.

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Apparently he didn't plead on something like 7 of the charges so...GCM continues.

Here's hoping he becomes a Kansas resident in the near future...for the rest of his life.

The old saying- "Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned" is a serious understatement when you not only treated your wife like dirt, but ripped off the Army in the process. This guy lost his mind and his morals- though to be able to do this makes one question whether he ever really had either.

One of the things that has always made me take pause in how I acted was a real desire to not make my parents disappointed in my actions. I just never wanted my Dad to think that I didn't know right from wrong. In this guys case- his Dad was the Div CDR for the 82d during Desert Storm- wonder if Dad is feeling proud of him now?

This is certainly a bizarre case. Yep, he is scum.
I read about this months ago and it was just a very ugly divorce case back then. The WIFE (hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!) did the investigating on the affair and bigamy and found the proxy wedding stuff and turned him in.
She did this knowing if he lost his career- dishonorable discharge, jail etc - she would stand to lose big financially. She and the kids will lose their medical benefits and she will lose out on any retirement benefits - basically their standard of living is destroyed.

This is certainly a bizarre case. Yep, he is scum.
I read about this months ago and it was just a very ugly divorce case back then. The WIFE (hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!) did the investigating on the affair and bigamy and found the proxy wedding stuff and turned him in.
She did this knowing if he lost his career- dishonorable discharge, jail etc - she would stand to lose big financially. She and the kids will lose their medical benefits and she will lose out on any retirement benefits - basically their standard of living is destroyed.

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Are you certain that the family will lose all of their benefits? I'm not being contentious- but I thought that I read somewhere that she won't necessarily lose her Tricare coverage despite his conviction and imprisonment. (Adding coals to the fire that he created if that is part of the outcome).He of course will continue to receive his medical coverage courtesy of the USArmy Meddac at Ft Leavenworth for the period of his extended visit. What a sleaze ball. His past raters and senior raters ought to be asking themselves - "how the hell did we keep giving this guy top blocks"? No way did his peers not know that he was a self serving AH- why didn't his bosses ?

His past raters and senior raters ought to be asking themselves - "how the hell did we keep giving this guy top blocks"? No way did his peers not know that he was a self serving AH- why didn't his bosses ?

Without all the facts, don't know if his raters and senior raters did their job or not. Do we know what people do when they go home? What is more important - results or good effort. I might not like how some officers do their jobs, but if they accomplish their assign tasks legally and within regulations should I be concerned about the method (i.e. not nice enough).

Without all the facts, don't know if his raters and senior raters did their job or not. Do we know what people do when they go home? What is more important - results or good effort. I might not like how some officers do their jobs, but if they accomplish their assign tasks legally and within regulations should I be concerned about the method (i.e. not nice enough).

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Well -yeah we should care because someone who has no personal integrity outside of work shows a propensity for having none at work either. when you walk thru the charge sheet for this guy- not only did he betray his wife- but he betrayed his position (letting contracts to his mistress father in Iraq etc...). Isn't that exactly why we have an honor code? Because the Army believes that you can't really separate your personal code of ethics from your performance.
The flaws in the system that I see is the propensity of some guys to reward lick-spittles and guys who manage up to shine to their boss; without digging deep enough to see what things look like from his peers and subordinates. One "good old boy" who I worked for who became a 4 star used to use the analogy of a camouflage net- he observed that Camo nets work well from above but don't conceal much from the ground level; His point being that leaders have an obligation to look at the performance of those they rate from the peer and subordinate positions as well as from above. But we've all seen raters who reward the suckup who will burn out his people, polish a rock or take credit for the work of others in order to look good to the commander, and be rewarded for it becasue the next level up just wanted a beautiful slide or liked to see guys visibly burning oil all night long to show how committed they are.